today it’s all about you. because i need all of your help. all of you.
when my boss and i discussed an 8-4 workday as opposed to 9-4, the husband started driving my 2 1/2 mornings a week carpools. but because of this, he now comes home late. usually somewhere between 7 and 8. i’ve gotten into a good groove…pretty much. come home from the gym, feed Isabella. feed the other kids. isabella goes to bed. homework. kids get computer time. josh on the laptop (nickjr.com) and emily on the main computer (family.ca). josh to bed. emily to bed. mommy to bed. whew.
but there’s one area that i just can’t wrap my head around. dinner. there’s no longer enough time to cook an entire meal from scratch. usually on sundays i try to cook a few things in advance. i’ll try to make a lasagna. or a meatloaf. certain staples that i know the kids like and that freeze well. but the rest of the week has become really hard. i try NOT to default to take-out or to boxed macaroni and cheese.
how does dinner work in your household? do you cook every night? do you go out to eat? do you take-out? do you cook and freeze? do you have any recipes for me??? please leave a comment today. with a tip. with a recipe. with an idea. i’d greatly appreciate it! and my kids probably would too!
song of the day: This ain’t a scene, it’s an arms race by Fall Out Boy
video of the day: warning! NOT SAFE FOR WORK OR AROUND CHILDREN. rated r for language. but it’s really hilarious. and if you haven’t seen The Departed, i highly recommend seeing the full-length version
i’d like to take a moment to thank everyone who commented and emailed on my nanny post and who has supported me and helped me out with all your advice. i’d also like to thank Laura, who after leaving a snarky comment, apologized to me. thanks.
I used to cook dinner from scratch every day, but now that I’m working more, and my kids are in more afterschool activities, I just don’t have the hour every evening to prepare a decent meal anymore. And I also don’t want to spend 2-3 hours on the weekend preparing and freezing meals in advance. Instead, I make a lot of quick meals, like pre-made souvlaki or chicken breasts on the griddler. Toss rice in the rice cooker or heat up those deeee-licious Costco rosemary/olive oil potato wedges, add a salad and it STILL takes a good 40 mins to prepare even an easy meal. We do sometimes resort to M&M prepared meals and usually takeout once/wk, but I always find I love the convenience of takeout, but not the actual food, so I’d prefer to keep a bunch of easy frozen stuff (like from M&M) and just eat that instead. No effort, and costs less/tastes better than takeout. That’s my take 🙂
the only way i can cook is to keep it really simple. we do a lot of grilled chicken and fish ( i marinate in morning and grill at night, either on the bbq or on a grill pan – ikea has a great new one for 19.99). i supplement that with either baked potato/sweet potato, brown rice, mashed potatoes, basmati rice, oven roasted potatoe wedges with rosemary/olive oil or Mccain’s low-fat fries. Plus a big bowl of steamed veggies (i buy precut and microwave them). in the winter, i use a lot of frozen veggies. summers, I go with big salads. good marinades I like: for salmon, Presdient’s choice seafood teriyaki sauce; for chicken – indian style: for four chicken breasts or thighs, mix 1/2 yogurt plain, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp garlic paste, 1 tbsp. ginger paste ( i buy these pastes in jars), salt, pepper, cilantro., also for chicken, bbq sauce, for fish and chicken, soy sauce and minced ginger
other good weekend recipes to cook and freeze are turkey chilli, turkey meatballs and homemade pasta sauce. when i boil my pasta, i throw in some frozen veggeis to make it primavera (learned that one from Ikea!)
I only have time for full homemade on Sundays. I usually make 2 dishes, enough for Mon. & Tuesday. I buy those deli prepared chickens from the supermarket once a week, eat at my mom’s once a week, sometimes my mother inlaw’s once a week(LOL – I’m lucky here!), and usually have take out once a week. Even with takeout I try to be healthy (Greek food). Some nights I just broil some meat & serve with salad & veggies. My 3 year old is not so picky yet & my 9 month old is still a baby. I’m sure it will get more difficult for me.
sunday night is pizza for kids/takeout for us, post swimming. mondays is usually saturday (shabbat) leftovers. tuesday and wednesday is a toss up, but if i want us to actually eat a “real” meal together, i cook it all the night before. everything, so that all i have to do is throw it in the oven and rehaeat. thursday nights is always homeade (whole wheat! veggies!) pizza for everyone. i even make that the night before (crust, at least)
last night, i didnt make anything the night before, and it was total chaos figuring out what everyone wanted to eat. nights i make dinner in advance run much smoother.
We cook most nights, but it’s usually meals of the frozen pizza variety. My suggestion for you: Crock pot! You can just throw everything in there in the morning and cook it on low all day long. Then you come home to dinner and a yummy-smelilng house! A couple of favorite recipes:
Chili: throw together various types of beans, some ground beef, some seasonings, and some salsa.
Chicken tacos: Put some boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot with a full jar of salsa. At the end of the day you can easily shred the chicken with a fork. Serve on tortillas with sour cream, lettuce, tomoato, and anything else you want.
ribs: broil ribs for 15 minutes. put in crock pot with a bottle of bbq sauce. at the end of the day the meat will be so tender it’s falling off the bone. And it will taste SOOOO good!
I try to cook decent meals every night, but I do have back up for when I have NO TIME! Here in Edmonton we have a couple companies that you can go to and assemble 12 great dinners that feed 4-6 people in 2 hours and throw them in the freezer for later use. If you can defrost, you can feed your family!
Here are the links:
http://www.dinnerrevolution.com/
http://www.simplysupper.ca/
There must be something like this where you are (since it exists in Edmonton it has to be elsewhere). I do this every 2 months, and sometimes the ideas are so good I just go ahead and make them at home again and freeze them up.
It is about 250$ but the convenience and not having to run to the grocery store for some crap ingredient is worth the $$$$ to me.
Dinners are hard during the week. I find that my kids aren’t that hungry at the end of the day, so I just try to make sure the meal, whatever it is, is well-balanced nutritionally. I’ll do a lot of chopping of raw veggies on the weekends as this is their favourite way to eat veggies and it makes a quick back-up at mealtime. We also don’t eat a lot of meat (I don’t eat any), so I’ll do a roast beef or chicken on the weekend and serve leftover meat to the hub & kids throughout the week. Some of our staples are: tortellini, chili, spaghetti, pizza (made on the giant whole-wheat pitas), fish fillets baked with a little lemon and pepper and quiche. Here is the quiche “recipe” I use (I don’t have a recipe that a real person who can cook provided, so this might not even *technically* be quiche!):
1. Line the bottom and sides of a deep dish pie plate with frozen hashbrowns (this becomes the crust). Season with salt and pepper.
2. Sprinkle shredded cheese over the hashbrowns.
3. Combine eggs with some milk (approx. 6 eggs, but it could be more or less, depending on the size of your pie plate).
4. Add chopped up veggies to your family’s taste (broccoli, tomatoes, onions, spinach all work well). You can also throw in some cooked chicken or ham if you have some. Pour the egg/veggie mixture over the crust.
5. Bake 35-45 minutes at 400 degrees until eggs are cooked and the crust has browned.
Try this:
http://www.foodtv.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=83516
It’s on tv in the evenings. At first I thought she was annoying with her perfect timing, scheduling and planning but she does a good job of getting kids involved, choosing healthy, fun and delicious recipes and ensuring that you have time left at the end of the day.
Kraft Canada’s (free) magazines are also fabulous and if your kids like pasta and lots of cheese this is a cheap, easy and yummy recipe to get their veggies in (and also good for leftovers and when dining with your husband when he does get home)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_33524,00.html?rsrc=search
Good luck- you sound like you can do anything so not to worry!
This is so near and dear to my heart right now. And Ali, step over to our marchies site, you will see we have a thread on recipes – and also just ideas of what people do eat. I really want to stay clear of the boxed stuff and fast food. I usually do scratch each night – but try and also fix a few things on the weekend. A weeks sampling might be: Sheppards pie monday (made on sunday), taco’s on tuesday w/ rice, steak and fresh pasta and steamed brocoli wednesday (may substiture nugget for steak for kids), by thursday we’re pooped so it ‘could’ be a frozen pizza – or maybe Andys’ fab. breaded chicken w/ veggies. It is hard to accomodate little kids tastes and ours, so I meet halfway so I’m not preparing two meals. Our weekend preparations could include chicken fillets (egg/breadcrumbs) fried then bakes, beef bourginon (fancy name for beef stew lol), sheppards pie, lasagna. I just make sure I have in fridge for the week: brocoli, green beans, fresh pasta, rices/pasta sauce in cupboard and then I embelish above meals with these! Now .. I’m going over to sci fi dad’s site and I will bookmark it lol!
As Jen said, we do our best here as well. I do the Mommy Track thing from the minute I get in the door at 6 p.m. and don’t stop until after the kids go to bed. Sometimes it is fish fingers or nuggest with fries and veggies, leftovers, Canadian Livings Make It Tonight (30 minutes or less), pizza or just a bagel or a sandwich. Thursday night is McDonld’s before grocery shopping at the drive through. As my two littlies go to daycare (Toby on Mon & Wed after morning kindy and on Friday all day, Miranda every day), they get nutritious (sometime hot) meals that I don’t have to cook so I am not too fussed if they don’t eat a lot of dinner.
My BFF got me onto this website which is excellent: http://www.kraftcanada.com which is fantastic.
Or sometimes I just do the “pantry” cook thing…
But hey IMHO, a toasted bagel with cream cheese and strawberry jam is a fav ein our house.
My wife posts recipes and our menu every Monday over at http://circleoflifeblog.blogspot.com/
Oh, Ali…lololol. Homemade dinners every night?! HAHAHAHA! You really do need a new nanny 😉
Kidding, of course. We do what we can. Sometimes it is a great home cooked meal, often it is an omelette or pita pizza, sometimes it is a sandwich and fruit. We do our best.